FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CONTACT:

Lorayn Olson, Ph.D. Acting Director
PublicOpinionLab@niu.edu 815-753-9657

Public Opinion Laboratory
Northern Illinois University
148 North 3rd Street,
DeKalb, IL 60115

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  • Why do interviewers ask for names or addresses or other personal information?
  • How can a sample of people represent everyone?
  • How are names selected for a sample of interviews?
  • Why are there some questions that don't sound very sensible?
  • Does the POL ever sell anything?
  • What is the difference between research and telemarketing?
  • Things you should know about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule

How are names selected for a sample of interviews?
Generally speaking, "names" are almost never selected. Typically in phone surveys, telephone numbers are randomly selected using specialized computer programs. Sometimes for mail surveys a client will provide a mailing list to the lab (i.e. names and addresses of members of the XYZ organization). In these cases, a random sample of mailing list members may be chosen from the list. Surveys are mailed to the persons selected, but their names and personal information are usually not included in the survey data. When there are exceptions to this rule, survey respondents are always informed.